BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 739|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 739
Author: Salas (D)
Amended: 6/17/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, De Le�n, Knight, Liu, Mitchell,
Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/23/13 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Local officers: deputy coroner
SOURCE : Kern County Sheriff, Donny Youngblood
DIGEST : This bill specifies who is a coroner's appointed
deputy or authorized deputy for the purpose of performing
inquests, as specified.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Specifies that coroners and deputy coroners, who are regularly
employed and paid in that capacity, are peace officers whose
authority extends to any place in the state for the purpose of
performing their primary duties or when making an arrest, as
specified.
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2.Specifies that whenever any qualified person is deputized or
appointed by the proper authority as a reserve or auxiliary
sheriff or city police officer, a reserve deputy sheriff, a
reserve deputy marshal, a reserve police officer of a regional
park district or of a transit district, a reserve park ranger,
a reserve harbor or port police officer of a county, city, or
district a reserve deputy of the Department of Fish and Game,
a reserve special agent of the Department of Justice, a
reserve officer of a community service district, a reserve
officer of a school district police department, a reserve
officer of a community college police department, a reserve
officer of a police protection district or a reserve housing
authority patrol officer employed by a housing authority and
is assigned specific police functions by that authority, the
person is a peace officer, if the person qualifies, as
specified. The authority of a person designated as a peace
officer extends only for the duration of the person's specific
assignment.
3.States that every person deputized or appointed, shall have
the powers of a peace officer only when the person is a level
I reserve officer deputized or appointed and assigned to the
prevention and detection of crime and the general enforcement
of the laws of this state, whether or not working alone, and
the person has completed the basic training course for deputy
sheriffs and police officers prescribed by the Commission on
Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). For level I
reserve officers appointed prior to January 1, 1997, the basic
training requirement shall be the course that was prescribed
at the time of their appointment. Reserve officers appointed
are required to satisfy the continuing professional training
requirement prescribed by POST.
4.Requires the coroner to discharge the duties of a sheriff in
any action or proceeding in which the sheriff is a party.
5.Requires the coroner to inquire into and determine the
circumstances, manner, and cause of all violent, sudden, or
unusual deaths; unattended deaths; deaths where the deceased
has not been attended by either a physician or a registered
nurse, who is a member of a hospice care interdisciplinary
team, as defined, in the 20 days before death; deaths related
to or following known or suspected self-induced or criminal
abortion; known or suspected homicide, suicide, or accidental
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poisoning; deaths known or suspected as resulting in whole or
in part from or related to accident or injury either old or
recent; deaths due to drowning, fire, hanging, gunshot,
stabbing, cutting, exposure, starvation, acute alcoholism,
drug addiction, strangulation, aspiration, or where the
suspected cause of death is sudden infant death syndrome;
death in whole or in part occasioned by criminal means; deaths
associated with a known or alleged rape or crime against
nature; deaths in prison or while under sentence; deaths known
or suspected as due to contagious disease and constituting a
public hazard; deaths from occupational diseases or
occupational hazards; deaths of patients in state mental
hospitals serving the mentally disabled and operated by the
State Department of State Hospitals; deaths of patients in
state hospitals serving the developmentally disabled and
operated by the Department of Developmental Services; deaths
under such circumstances as to afford a reasonable ground to
suspect that the death was caused by the criminal act of
another; and any deaths reported by physicians or other
persons having knowledge of death for inquiry by coroner.
6.Requires the coroner or a deputy coroner to personally sign
the certificate of death in any case in which the coroner
conducts an inquiry, except if inquiry determines that the
physician of record has sufficient knowledge to reasonably
state the cause of a death occurring under natural
circumstances, the coroner may authorize that physician to
sign the certificate of death.
7.Requires the coroner, in all cases in which a person has died
under circumstances that afford a reasonable ground to suspect
that the person's death has been occasioned by the act of
another by criminal means, upon determining that those
reasonable grounds exist, to immediately notify, by the most
direct communication available, the law enforcement agency
having jurisdiction over the criminal investigation.
8.Authorizes the coroner or the coroner's appointed deputy, on
being informed of a death and finding it to fall into the
classification of deaths requiring his/her inquiry, to proceed
immediately to where the body lies, examine the body, make
identification, make inquiry into the circumstances, manner,
and means of death, and, as circumstances warrant, either
order its removal for further investigation or disposition or
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release the body to the next of kin.
9.Requires the coroner, or the coroner's appointed deputy, on
being notified of a death occurring while the deceased was
driving or riding in a motor vehicle, or as a result of the
deceased being struck by a motor vehicle, to take blood and
urine samples from the body of the deceased before it has been
prepared for burial and make appropriate related chemical
tests to determine the alcoholic contents, if any, of the
body. Authorizes the coroner to perform other chemical tests
including, but not limited to, barbituric acid and amphetamine
derivative, as deemed appropriate.
10.Authorizes the coroner, in any death into which the coroner
is to inquire, to take charge of any and all personal effects,
valuables, and property of the deceased at the scene of a
death or related to the inquiry and hold or safeguard them
until lawful disposition of the items can be made. Authorizes
the coroner to lock the premises and apply a seal to the door
or doors prohibiting entrance to the premises, pending arrival
of a legally-authorized representative of the deceased.
This bill:
1.States that for the purpose of performing inquests, a
coroner's appointed deputy or authorized deputy is meant to
include the following:
A. Any deputy coroner who is regularly employed and paid in
that capacity.
B. Any part-time or volunteer personnel of a
sheriff-coroner's office who are level 1 Reserve Officers,
as specified.
1.States that POST shall not reimburse any individual agency for
training or certification of any part-time or volunteer
personnel.
Comments
According to the author's office, currently a county sheriff
cannot utilize part-time coroners and volunteers, who have met
the same training requirements as full-time coroners, to assist
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in coroner investigations with the same authority as a reserve
deputy to clear the scene. Furthermore, there is no authority
granted in statute that allows for the use of volunteers and/or
part time personnel as reserve deputy coroners to perform
on-call coroner duties. In large rural counties it can take
hours for staff to travel and arrive at the scene an accident,
which results in extraordinary costs for local law enforcement.
Additionally, it can be difficult for deputy coroners to reach
certain parts of the county because of natural barriers such as
mountains, rivers, weather conditions, and lack of paved roads.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/27/14)
Kern County Sheriff, Donny Youngblood (source)
California State Sheriffs Association
Kings County Sheriff, Dave Robinson
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/23/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones-Sawyer,
Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John
A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Grove, Holden, Jones, Waldron, Vacancy,
Vacancy
JG:e 6/27/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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